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US ambassador raised Save Valley issue with Mugabe

United States ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee took advantage of a meeting between President Robert Mugabe and congressman Donald Payne to ask Mugabe about the fate of an American-owned property in the Save Valley Conservancy that was under threat of being acquired by the government.

Payne had clicked with Mugabe after telling Zimbabwe’s President that he had been a fan of Mugabe from the days of the liberation struggle.

McGee described the visit as an opportunity for dialogue, “if we can talk about issues”, and raised the issue of Save Valley conservancy and credit to farmers as issues that could be discussed.

Payne said the US shared the goal of having positive relations with Zimbabwe and noted that he and others in congress wanted to see the US end isolationist policies.

Mugabe did not respond to the Save issue but told Payne “we’ve never taken a decision to have a hostile relationship with anyone — especially you. You were there when we started”.

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The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.